Five Things We Liked From Last Week, September 19th

Welcome to “Five Things We Liked From Last Week”, a weekly list of… five things we liked from last week:

1. Keider Montero

Heading into Sunday’s game against the Miami Marlins, not only had Detroit lost three straight games, but the lead in the division was down to just 6.5 games.

Needless to say, the Tigers needed someone to come up big, to stop the losing streak and maintain the division lead.

Starting pitcher Keider Montero answered the bell.

Montero fired five scoreless innings, allowing just three hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

It was a clutch performance from Montero, who has quietly provided a lot of quality outings for Detroit in 2025.

On the year, Montero is incredibly up to 83.1 innings with Detroit in 2025, with a 4.32 ERA / 4.45 xFIP, 17.6% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate, 43.0% groundball rate and .268 batting average against.

Teams go into every season with a set group of five starting pitchers, with the knowledge that they’ll need many more to get through the season, due to the inevitable injury and performance attrition that hits every pitching staff.

At the beginning of this season, the Tigers at first glance had a multitude of starting pitchers. But through the course of the year, injuries and underperformance mounted up, like with any team. But luckily for Detroit, Montero has stayed healthy all year long, and despite a bit of an up and down year down in Toledo, he has always answered the call whenever Detroit needed him.

At the trade deadline, the Tigers added two starting pitchers, which meant that Montero got buried a little further down the depth chart. But he stayed ready, and that preparation paid off for Detroit on Sunday.

2. José Urquidy

716 days.

Way back on September 29, 2023, José Urquidy tossed six scoreless innings in his last appearance for the Houston Astros. Despite ending the year on a strong note, Urquidy dealt with a forearm strain in spring training 2024, which ultimately led to the dreaded Tommy John surgery in June of 2024.

After the 2024 season, the Astros put Urquidy on waivers, and he eventually became a free agent, available for any team to sign. On March 8, 2025, the Tigers came calling, signing him to a one year deal with a club option for 2026, knowing full well that he would miss the majority of the 2025 season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

Urquidy worked hard to come back from the injury, and after months of rehab, he finally made his way back to MLB after the Tigers called him up on September 12^th. Two days later, Urquidy stepped onto a big league mound in an appearance with Detroit, 716 days after his last MLB outing.

Overall, José performed pretty well in his first game back, allowing no runs on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts in one and a third innings.

Urquidy would make one more appearance with Detroit on Wednesday, before getting sent down to AAA on Thursday to make room for Paul Sewald. José will continue to throw in Toledo with the hopes of competing for a spot in the Tigers starting rotation in spring training 2026, as long as Detroit picks up his option, which seems likely as of today.

Urquidy’s stuff doesn’t jump off the page, but he’s been an effective pitcher when healthy. Detroit will hope that their investment pays off the rest of this year and into next season.

3. Erie SeaWolves

Just like their friends in West Michigan and Lakeland, the Erie SeaWolves earned a spot in the postseason after an excellent regular season.

Game one of the division series was Tuesday night, in a playoff action packed evening down on the Tigers farm.

Unfortunately for the SeaWolves, they couldn’t solve Altoona’s lineup, allowing 11 runs in a 11-5 loss, despite a two run homer for Josue Briceño.

Game two of the division series was last night, and it was a completely different story from Tuesday night. Behind a strong outing from starting pitcher Andrew Sears, the SeaWolves pitching staff held Altoona to just a single run, and Erie got multi-hit games from three players to lead the way to a 6-1 victory over Altoona, evening the three game series at a game a piece. The two teams will play for a chance to compete in the Eastern League championship this evening.

4. West Michigan Whitecaps

After one of the most dominant minor league seasons of the 21^st century, the West Michigan Whitecaps earned a spot in the Midwest League championship series after sweeping the division series.

In game one of the championship series, West Michigan was down 3-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth. But they cut the lead to 3-1, and exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take home a 5-3 victory over Cedar Rapids. Peyton Graham and Austin Murr paced the ‘Caps offense with two hits a piece, and Carlos Marcano (4.1 IP, 0ER) paced the Whitecaps bullpen that allowed no runs in six and a third innings.

West Michigan would go on to clinch the Midwest League championship on Tuesday. Starting pitcher Joe Miller came up big for the Whitecaps again, pitching five and two thirds innings of no run ball, and the bullpen followed suit by allowing just one run the rest of the way. West Michigan got hits from seven of their nine starters in a balanced offensive attack, scoring three runs to help the Whitecaps win 3-1 over Cedar Rapids.

Overall, it was literally a banner year for West Michigan and manager Tony Cappuccilli, whose team didn’t miss a beat all season despite the promotions of Max Clark, Kevin McGonigle and Josue Briceño midway through the year. Kudos to the Whitecaps for an incredible season.

5. Lakeland Flying Tigers

The Lakeland Flying Tigers also earned a spot in their division’s championship series, after also sweeping their division series.

In game one of the FSL championship series, starting pitcher Kelvis Salcedo was electric, allowing just one run in five innings on one hit. That hit was the only one allowed by the Flying Tigers pitching staff, and a balanced offensive attack from the Flygers helped lead the way to a 5-1 win over Daytona.

Not to be outdone by their org mates in West Michigan, Lakeland also took home the championship on Tuesday night. Starting pitcher Gabriel Reyes allowed just one run in four and a third innings, and the bullpen shut out Daytona the rest of the game, which was more than enough for a Flying Tigers offense that got multi-hit games from five hitters. The final score was 9-2 in a decisive victory.

Both West Michigan and Lakeland winning the championship put a bow on an excellent year for the Tigers organization as a whole, which as of this writing had the best overall organizational winning percentage in baseball.

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